Indonesia in the new world at the Institute for International Trade, University of Adelaide, with Christopher Findlay as Chair.

As a follow up to the Indonesia Update conference, the ANU Indonesia Project extends part of the conference to other cities in Australia – these events are named “Mini Indonesia Update”. This year we collaborate with the Lowy Institute in Sydney and the Institute for International Trade at the University of Adelaide.

The Mini Update in Adelaide, Indonesia in the new world, was held on 18 September, featuring Dr Chatib Basri (Universitas Indonesia), Dr Arief Yusuf (Universitas Padjadjaran), Dr Titik Anas (Presisi Indonesia), and chaired by Professor Christopher Findlay (University of Adelaide). The seminar was attended by around 30 participants, one-third were female, and mostlly were academia.

Chatib Basri giving presentation during the mini Indonesia Update

Dr Yusuf talked about how anti-globalisation could worsen inequality in Indonesia, even though it is not the major cause of it. Dr Anas discussed the many trade agreements Indonesia is involved in and how best to manage them all without falling into the ‘spaghetti bowl’ effect, where trade diversion outweights trade creation. Dr Basri discussed the challenges policymakers have to face in the globalisation and rising populism. The seminars were followed by active Q&A, including contrbution from Professor Kym Anderson and Dr Arianto Patunru from the floor.

A Political and Economic Update on Indonesia were held on the same day at the Lowy Institute in Sydney, on 17 October 2017. This is the twelfth time Lowy Institute held the abbreviated Sydney edition.

A full house of about 100 people–including His Excellency David Hurley, Governor of NSW and former Chief of the Australian Defence Force–listened to shortened presentations from the annual Indonesia Update by Mari Pangestu and Raden Pardede (on Indonesian economics) and Thomas Power (on Indonesian politics). The event was chaired by Lowy’s East Asia Program Research Fellow, Aaron Connelly. Long-time Indonesia Project member Ross McLeod introduced the Project and the Update conference, noting that Dr Pangestu’s father, the late Pang Lay Kim, had been the first Indonesian researcher recruited to the Project back in the mid 1960s. Consequently Dr Pangestu had done much of her schooling in Canberra, and went on to study economics at ANU. Her stellar career as academic economist, policy adviser and Minister in the Cabinet of former President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, and her presence at the Update, demonstrated the farsightedness of the founders of the Indonesia Project as a means of fostering closer ties and better understanding between Australia and Indonesia. After the presentations Dr Connelly chaired a short panel discussion in which the three speakers responded to questions from the audience. The Mini Update concluded with a vote of thanks from long time Indonesia Project associate, Dr Stephen Grenville.

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We would like to thank Arief A Yusuf for the images used in this post.